A kill bot is robot
designed for
killing, pure and simple. To many, the
killer robot represents the ultimate in death dealing
technology. Emotionless, efficient, rugged and unstopping, they present the platform for the
perfect murderer.
Science fiction literature and movies have popularized the killer robot
scenario for most of the last
century. This concept planted the seed for
"The Case of the Killer Robot" in the
brain of Richard Epstein, a professor at
Pennsylvania's
West Chester University. What if a robot killed through no
fault of its own? Where does the responsibility lie in a case of robotic
manslaughter?
"The Case of the Killer Robot" is a
sequence of
fictitious articles that detail the story of the death of robot
operator Bart Matthews at the hands of a new supposedly
state of the art Robbie CX30
industrial robot. Examining the
project development process that lead to the construction of a machine that proved deadly
dangerous, Epstein examines issues in computer
ethics and
quality management in
software engineering. Presenting the internal conflicts and politics of the modern engineering
workplace to readers, he forces the examination of software development in a
fluid business environment. The scenarios also introduce
psychological issues like
organizational behavior,
human psychology (in both programmers and users), the
software development life cycle, and the nature of
requirements and
risk management in today's workplace. The
key issue of determining when software is "
good enough" for release when
lives are involved forces readers to seriously consider this question.
It is a very
unique and
entertaining educational exercise. It clearly shows that unlike the resulting code,
software development is a highly subjective
social process, loaded with hidden pitfalls and
ethical considerations. If you are involved in computer programming, whether lives depend on it or not, this is an excellent read.
Richard G. Epstein. "The use of computer ethics scenarios in software engineering education: the case of the killer robot." Software Engineering Education: Proceedings of the 7th SEI CSEE Conference, San Antonio. Jorge L. Diaz-Herrera, editor. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 750. Springer-Verlag 1994.
The Case of the Killer Robot Richard G. Epstein., John Wiley and Sons, 1997